Features of the invention and advantages derived therefrom will be more apparent from the following detailed description of the accompanying figures, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a general marine vessel provided with a pair of outboard motors in combination with a first embodiment of the steering device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view only of the steering device of FIG. 1 with motors in the not steered and not tilted condition.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view only of the steering device of FIG. 1 steered to the right, referring to the moving direction of the marine vessel, and not tilted condition of motors.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view only of the steering device of FIG. 1 with motors in the not steered condition and with the main motor being tilted.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view only of the steering device of FIG. 1 with motors in the not steered condition and with the secondary motor being tilted.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view only of the steering device of FIG. 1 with both motors in not steered and tilted condition.
FIG. 7 is a detail of FIG. 2, regarding the sliding slider steering the secondary motor.
FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the sliding slider steering the secondary motor, the second radial arm being omitted.
FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the first radial arm of the slider steering the secondary motor.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the steering device according to the present invention with motors in not steered and not tilted condition.
Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown a conventional boat 1 that will be briefly described in the following. The boat 1 comprises a stem 101 and a stern 201. A steering wheel 2 is provided connected to an hydraulic pump 3. The pump 3 is hydraulically connected to the steering hydraulic device by means of two hydraulic hoses 4, 5. The steering device comprises a cylinder 6 steering the the main motor 7 of the double-acting type sliding on a rod 10. The hydraulic hose 4 is connected to an end of the steering cylinder 6 while the other hydraulic hose 5 is connected to the opposite end, so as to alternatively generate a pressure inside one of the two chambers of the cylinder 6. A second outboard motor 8 (secondary motor) is mounted on the stern 201 near the main motor 7. The main motor 7 has an tilt tube 9 that generally is coupled to the top of the sterndrive of the motor 7 and a spindle passing through the tilt tube 9 and allowing the main motor 7 to be tilted about the axis of the tilt tube 9 from the propelling position shown in FIG. 1 to a position tilted inside the marine vessel 1. A pair of supporting arms 11 are mounted at the opposite ends of the spindle passing through the tilt tube 9. Each arm 11 is made substantially with a zed shape and has an opening intended to receive a spindle end. Each arm 11 further has a second opening intended to receive an end of the rod 10 of the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7. The rod 10 is mounted inside the cylinder 6 so that it can slide to and fro along the rod 10. Therefore the rod 10 is axially stationary with respect to the marine vessel 1 while the cylinder 6 moves trasversally with respect to the main axis of the marine vessel 1. Supporting arms 11 allow a curved movement of the rod 10 and cylinder 6 about the axis of the tilt tube 9, keeping the axis of rod 10 and of cylinder 6 parallel to the axis of the tilt tube 9. The steering cylinder 6 at one end is connected to a steering arm 13 by means of an articulated lever 12 that is fastened to the main motor 7. Articulated linkage formed of the lever 12 and the arm 13 allows to compensate the distance changes of the steering cylinder 6 from the pivotable end of the steering arm 13 during steering steps. The device further comprises a slide guide 14 stationary associated to the secondary motor 8, as an axial extension in the main motor direction of the spindle about which the tube 15 tilting the secondary motor 8 rotates. It is further provided an axial slider 16 steering the secondary motor 8 slidable driven on the guide 14 by the cylinder 6 steering the main motor, and it is connected to the steering arm 17 for the secondary motor 8. The steering slider 16 comprises a tubular slide 18 with an annular flange 118 provided at the end of the slide 18 faced towards the secondary motor 8. Starting from said flange 118, the tubular slide 18 comprises a first cylindrical smooth portion 218 having an axial length substantially corresponding to the thickness of a complementary bore 119 of a radial arm 19 with which it engages by rotation on said first smooth portion 218 of the tubular slide 18, and which will be disclosed in more detail hereinafter. The tubular slide 6 comprises a further threaded portion 318 ending at the end of the slide 6 faced towards the main motor 7 upon which a further radial arm 20 is engaged by screwing, which will be disclosed in more detail hereinafter, by means of a threaded bore 120. Thus, the radial arm 20 locks the radial arm 19 in the axial direction of the tubular slide 18 and so of the slide guide 14, while the radial arm 19 can freely rotate about the tubular slide 18. The tubular slide 18 can also freely rotate about the axis of the guide 14 upon which it slides. Between the inner cylindrical surface of the tubular slide 18 and the external cylindrical surface of the slide guide 14 there is provided a pair of bushs 21 made of a material with a low coefficient of friction, for example teflon or the like, which bushs 21 are axially hold in position inside the tubular slide 18 by means of a pair of scraper seals 22 elastically snap engaging each one inside a corresponding annular groove 23 provided at the inner part of each opposite head end of the tubular slide 18. The radial arm 20, to which reference has been made hereinbefore, is composed of a member radially extending outwards with respect to the tubular slide 18 and to the free end thereof a bar 24 for coupling to the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7 is connected. Said coupling bar 24 may be made such to be lengthwise adjustable within predetermined stops, so that the steering device can be adapted to different situations, particularly to different distances between the two motors 7, 8. Alternatively, it is possible to replace it with one of different length. Said coupling bar 24 has two end portions 124, 124′ for coupling to the device 6 steering the main motor 7 and to the radial arm 20 respectively. The end portion 124 has a bore oriented parallely to the arm 13 steering the main motor 7, in a not steering condition thereof, freely slidably engaging on a pin 25 with a low coefficient of friction supported at the two ends of two branches of a forked connection plate 26. Said plate 26 is integral with an end of the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7. The other end portion 124′ of the coupling bar 24 has also an bore oriented parallely to the arm 13 steering the main motor 7, in a not steering condition thereof, intended to receive a coupling pin 27 oriented according to a coupling axis perpendicular to the steering axis of the main motor 7 and perpendicular to the axis of the slide guide 14 and to the axis of the coupling bar 24. Said pin 27 has an enlarged head 127, an intermediate smooth portion with a low coefficient of friction and a threaded end in order to screw it inside a bore 220 provided at the end of the radial arm 20. The axial extension of the intermediate smooth portion is greater than the thickness of the end portion 124′, so that said end portion 124′ may slide on the pin 27 within two opposite sliding stops on one side formed of the end of the radial arm 20 and on the other side formed of the enlarged head 127 of the pin 27. At the intermediate smooth portion of the pin 27 and outside thereof, there is provided a tubular bush 28 made of teflon or the like aiming at reducing the sliding friction of the end portion 124′. The degrees of freedom given in this manner to the coupling bar 24 allow to compensate the transverse offset of the axis of the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7 with respect to the axis of the slide guide 14 associated to the secondary motor 8. Concerning this, it is to be noted that the slide guide 14 has a length at least equal to the extension of the range made by the steering cylinder 6 between the two opposite stop positions. The other radial arm 19 is in turn composed of a member radially extending outwards with respect to the tubular slide 18 and the slide guide 14 and to the free end thereof there is connected a lever 29 for coupling to the arm 17 steering the secondary motor 8. Said coupling lever 29 has a first threaded end 129 that can be axially screwed/unscrewed inside a corresponding threaded bore of an end portion 30 fastening to the arm 17 steering the secondary motor 8, so that said coupling lever 29 may be lengthwise adjustable so that the device can be adapted to particular geometries of individual situations. On the opposite side said coupling lever 29 has a L-shape bent end coupling to the radial arm 19. The angled end branch of said second end has a thread 229 cooperating with a threaded bush 31 housed inside a corresponding bore 219 provided at the free end of the radial arm 19. Said bore 219 is oriented perpendicularly to the axis of the radial arm 19. The threaded bush 31 is axially locked inside the bore 219 by means of an elastic ring 32 elastically snap engaging inside an annular groove 131 provided at the end of the threaded bush 31 projecting from the bore 219. On the opposite side the threaded bush 31 has an enlarged head 231 having a not round shape and such to be driven by rotation, for example by means of a monkey spanner, so that it can be screwed and unscrewed on the thread 229 of the angled end of the coupling lever 29 in order to adjust the distance between the coupling lever 29 and the slide guide 14 and to compensate the heightwise offset between the arm 17 steering the secondary motor 8 and said slide guide 14. Between the external surface of the threaded bush 31 and the inner surface of the bore 219 there is provided a tubular bush 33 made of teflon or the like, provided with an end annular flange 133, providing to reduce the friction between the surface of bore 219 and the bush 31 and between the head 231 of the bush 31 and the surface abutting with the area around the bore 219 of the radial arm 19 during the rotation of the bush 31. Even between the external surface of the smooth cylindrical portion 218 of the tubular slide 18 and the inner surface of bore 119 of the radial arm 19 there is provided a pair of tubular bushs 34 each one provided with an annular end flange aiming at reducing the rotation friction between the radial arm 19 and the tubular slide 18 and the two arms 19, 20 one with respect to the other.
In addition to the above disclosure, the present invention may be advantageously applied also in combination with more than two motors. For example, there may be provided a main motor provided with its own steering cylinder interposed between two secondary motors, each one may be driven by a system as the one above disclosed. Each system may be connected to one of the two opposite ends of the cylinder steering the main motor.
Referring now to FIG. 10, there is shown an alternative embodiment of the present invention, wherein mechanisms for controlling the steering of the secondary motor 8 are substantially a not active copy and having the same degrees of movement freedom of the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7, of the rod 10 upon which said cylinder 6 slides, of means 11 for fastening said rod 10 and means 12 connecting said cylinder 6 to the arm 13 steering the main motor 7. In this case, the slide guide 14′ is substantially a copy of the rod 10, and like it, it is hold by means of a pair of arms 11, an end of each one of them is connected to one of the opposite ends of the guide 14′. Said arms 11 with their opposite ends are pivotable mounted about the axis of the tube 15 tilting the secondary motor 8. On the guide 14′ there is axially slidable mounted and rotatable about thereof the steering slider 16′ that at least partially is a not active copy of the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7. The cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7 and the steering slider 16′ for the secondary motor 8 are connected one with respect to the other by means of a driving lever 35 that can be of the lengthwise adjustable type such that the system may be adapted to different situations, referring to the distance between the two motors 7, 8. At each opposite end, the driving lever 35 has a ball joint 135, 135′ for connecting the slider 16 and the cylinder respectively. Due to ball joints 135, 135′ it is possible to independently tilt the two motors 7, 8. Similarly to the cylinder 6 steering the main motor 7, also the slider 16′ is connected to the arm 17 steering the secondary motor 8 by means of an articulated lever 36 allowing to compensate the distance changes of the slider 16′ from the pivotable end of the steering arm 17 during steering steps.
Of course the invention is not limited to the above disclosed and shown two embodiments, but it can be widely varied, above all as regards construction, without departing from the guiding principle disclosed above and claimed below.
Patent Application
20080026655
